The trades on Russian stock exchanges opened with a 3-3.6% drop of main indices.

The report comes from the Russian BBC service.

The MMVB index lost 2.84% down to 1432.87 points, the RTS index dropped by 3.61% down to 1301.76 points.

The shares of Rosneft went 5.6% cheaper at the opening of trades. Rouble’s exchange rate also lost noticeably against the US dollar and euro.

Rouble’s exchange rate lost 35 kopecks against the dollar and went up to 34.73 roubles, the rate against the euro saw 46 kopecks move towards 46.97 roubles per euro.

We would remind that on Wednesday the US president Barack Obama signed the escalation of sanctions against Russia, having directed them at a number of large banks as well as companies in energy and defense sectors. Officials call the sanctions the most serious of all since Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine.